Fieldcrest Board votes to move baseball games to Wenona
Friday, March 16, 2007 - Posted 11:00:49 AM
The Fieldcrest Board of Education approved a motion to move the Fieldcrest baseball games from Minonk to Wenona at the Board's monthly meeting at Toluca Thursday night. The vote to move the games from Minonk to Wenona was 4-3 with all 3 board members from Wenona approving the move while Heidi Cook of Toluca also voted in support of the motion.
The decision to move the games was based on a request from the Fieldcrest baseball coach, who teaches in Wenona and said that the playing field at Minonk didn't drain well and has caused cancellation of some games. The City of Minonk said that it was not made aware of the problem and had budgeted $25,000 for improvements to the ballpark this year. Concerns also were brought up concerning the driving of students between Minonk and Wenona.
Minonk resident Christie Ruestman presented the results of the MinonkTalk survey to the Board members before the meeting. The survey results showed that every community in the Fieldcrest district was opposed to the move, including Wenona.
Hedi Cook of Toluca who voted to move the games said the baseball coach, Mr. Brown, is "out there every morning working on the ball diamond." However, Christie Ruestman said "that simply is not true."
The decision to move the ball games is good for this year only. The Board will vote next year on whether the baseball games should continue to be played in Wenona.
In other action the Board awarded the contract for mowing Fieldcrest property to Beck's Excavating. Spring Green of Minonk was the other bidder. Board member Tom Barth asked if contracts under $10,000 require the bidding process because he felt that contracts should be awarded locally when possible. Superintendent Randy Vincent told Barth that it was a gray area that would require legal advice.
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